Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Date night!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Our little man - full of joy and energy!

We love you, Matthew!

On September 12th my man turned 31! Matthew's parents (more commonly known as BeBe and BaBaw) came to celebrate with us. Matthew and I enjoyed a night out on Friday night and then on Saturday we celebrated all day long as a family. Abby planned a wonderful family party for her daddy, complete with a pinata and cascarones (confetti eggs). The children and I could not ask for a more amazing, loving, kind and selfless husband and father than Matthew - we love you!

Labor Day Weekend

Now that we are halfway through the month of October I finally decided to free the pictures from my camera from our Labor Day mini-vacation to Lamar, Texas. The newest part of our family - the Starkeys - have a wonderful house in Lamar where we were able to spend a long weekend as an extended family. We played at the beach in Rockport, went crabbing, relaxed and ate delicious food all weekend. (One perk of our newest family is they are exceptional cooks and we all benefit:) Sorry for the delay in posting these pictures, but better late than never!

We finally timed it right and Becki and I are pregnant at the same time! I have loved going through this pregnancy with my beloved sister. She is expecting little Mina Claire on November 2nd and our little man should arrive about two months later. It is hard to believe that between us we will have had five babies in five years! I keep thinking about our parents and how grandparenthood has overtaken their lives in a relatively short time. We are thankful for such wonderful parents, in-laws and aunts and uncles for our ever expanding family!

Cousins playing at the beach. These two just adore each other!

The Starkey family introduced us to crabbing! We had so much fun on this little adventure.

Our little beauty!

Abby and Pop feeding the birds.

The Ranch

About two weeks ago we spent the day at the ranch of one of my college roommates, Laura. Laura and her family live on a beautiful ranch outside of Wimberley, Texas. One of our other roomies, Heather, was out at the ranch for the weekend so we had a fun little reunion!

Abby and Gwen, Laura's oldest

Laura and Heather with the kids in the fabulous pool!

Our brave little swimmer and Daddy!

Jacob always manages to find a lady friend. Here he is with Emma, Laura's youngest.

We're having (another) BOY!

It's official - Reyes Baby No. 3 is a BOY! We are so excited! Matthew and I went to the doctor on Wednesday and it was very clear to us and the doctor that our next child was a boy. I had no inclination as to what I was having but our little Abby thought (or was wishing?) that our baby was a girl. I was a little nervous about how she would react but when I told her it was a boy she was silent for a minute then said, "Well I thought I wanted a girl but I think what I really wanted was another little brother." Whew, what an answer to prayer! Abby is an amazing big sister so Bubba No. 2 (Matthew's name for our third child) will be one blessed little man, just like his big brother Jacob - who will also make an excellent big brother! Most importantly, we are thankful that the baby looked healthy. Thank you all for praying for our third child - we are truly blessed!

Enjoy these pictures of our family!

Abby and Jacob with Pop and Hootsie at the JW Marriot Resort in San Anontio. I highly recommend this place - tons of fun! Thank you to Pop and Hootsie for a fun weekend!

Abby feeding cousin Josiah his bottle. Josiah is adorable we are grateful we were able to spend some time with him (and his amazing Momma and grandparents) in Temple earlier this month.

Our handsome hunk. Jacob has recently grown attached to Ty Ty, his green monkey. He even feeds Ty Ty a bottle!

Our sweet and sassy girl on the first day of preschool. This time next year we will be sending her to kindergarten. Wow, is that possible!?!

Hello Again!

Once again it's been too long since I updated the blog! I always think the summer will be somewhat of a break - less busy with time to catch up on things - but I'm always wrong! I am always surprised by how crazy busy the summer is. We have had a great summer though. We have had several weekend trips and a week long vacation to our family's summer cottage in Michigan. We've spent several Wednesday nights at Floore's Country Store for Steak Night and lots of time at the pool with friends. Abby is an amazing little swimmer and Jacob has recently discovered the diving board - he is a fearless little dude! We do not let Jacob near the water without a life jacket.
We said goodbye to Grandma Cason earlier this month. She had Alzheimer's for the last three or four years of her life so we really had to say goodbye much earlier. We are thankful she is finally Home with Jesus!
I am 20 weeks pregnant - halfway there! We are so excited to meet our newest family member in January and should find out next week if we are having another little girl or boy. I have no inclination as to what the baby is and Matthew won't even play that game so we are both really looking forward to being completely surprised at the ultrasound. Some people may wonder why we are even finding out at all, but it's enough of a surprise to see what our children look like when they are born. I think I will never cease to be amazed that Matthew and I seem to make blonde haired, blue-eyed babies! Speaking of our babies, here are some pictures from earlier this summer.

The Reyes Family

BaBaw and BeBe with their grandbabies - Josiah, Jacob and Abby
(Rather than calling BaBaw by the name given to him by Abby, Jacob calls his grandfather PapPoo!)

The Larger Reyes Family

Sweet picture of Daddy and his baby girl!

Jacob and the sippy cup. This is the only kind of cup he really likes because it allows him to drink hands-free. That way he has his hands free to cause trouble:)

So we have some exciting news...

We are having a baby! Yes, baby number three is on the way and we couldn't be more excited! I am about 13 weeks along and the due date is January 5th.
I have been sick as a dog but the really bad days are becoming fewer and fewer so I am hoping and praying I may be turning a corner. I was a little sick when I was pregnant with Abby but had very little difficulty with my pregnancy with Jacob so this has definitely thrown me for a loop. And, the fact that I spend all but two hours a day (when J is napping) chasing a climbing, running, adorable, crazy, dancing little boy around may contribute to the fatigue... I am so thankful for wonderful friends, a supportive family and an incredibly selfless husband that have been taking care of me and feeding my children while I had to take a hiatus from the kitchen.
Big sister Abby is ecstatic about having another brother or sister (she is hoping for a sister because in her own words, "I don't think I could handle another brother") and Jakey has no idea what exactly is going on although we sense he does know change is coming based on the major "Mommy" phase he has entered into.
We praise God for this new life and covet your prayers for a healthy baby and pregnancy!

My current favorite picture of our precious babies, taken at Uncle B and Aunt Hannah's wedding in June.

Fun Times

This is what we've been up to the past month or so...

Run for Hungry Children

Our family, along with our life group, participated in the Run for Hungry Children. We had a wonderful time and Abby really seemed to understand the concept of raising money for children that do not have food as readily as we do. Our family raised more than $400 so thank you to everyone for your support!

p.s. Jacob really was happy to be there even if his expression doesn't show it!

Memorial Day Fun!

We spent some time over Memorial Day weekend at the Duysen's house for a BBQ. We had an amazing time and we are so thankful for all our sweet friends!

Little man loves water!

My favorite pic of the day... Matthew with Sara Kate, Abby and Jakey.

Abby finished her semester of dance class at The Little Gym. Here is our beautiful dancer striking a pose for the camera.